1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to engineering data and, in particular, to performing an operation on a part using engineering data for the part. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for delivering engineering data for a part from a network server system to a portable device for use in performing an operation on the part in a remote location.
2. Background
Oftentimes, engineering data is needed to perform a maintenance operation on one or more parts of a product. Engineering data for a part may include any data related to the design, manufacturing, or safety of the part. A maintenance operation may be, for example, a repair operation, a rework operation, a replacement operation, an inspection operation, or some other type of maintenance operation. The engineering data needed to perform a maintenance operation on a part may include, for example, without limitation, geometry data, product structure information, design information, manufacturing information, safety information, engineering notes, engineering drawings, or some combination thereof.
A product may be comprised of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of parts, depending on the type of the product. With some currently available methods for retrieving engineering data for parts, identifying the engineering data needed to perform a maintenance operation on a particular part in a product may increase in difficulty as the number of parts that make up the product increases.
For example, in some cases, when an operator needs to perform a maintenance operation on an aircraft part, the operator brings hardcopies of the engineering data for the aircraft part to the field to perform the maintenance operation. These hardcopies may include, for example, without limitation, papers, blueprints, binders, photographs, other types of physical media, or some combination thereof. However, identifying the particular hardcopies needed for performing the maintenance operation on the aircraft part may be more difficult than desired when the aircraft part is one of a hundred thousand parts that make up an aircraft.
Further, shipping and storing all of the hardcopies of the engineering data needed for all of the parts that make up the aircraft may be more expensive and time-consuming than desired. Additionally, the hardcopies may not provide the level of detail needed to guide the operator or allow the operator to perform the maintenance operation with a desired level of accuracy.
For example, available photographs of an aircraft part may not include views of the portion of the aircraft part on which a maintenance operation is to be performed. As another example, an aircraft part may be located inside of an assembly of parts. In some cases, only photographs of the overall assembly may be available. These photographs may not provide the level of detail required to perform certain maintenance operations on the aircraft part.
Some currently available systems are configured to store engineering data for a product and the parts of the product on one or more servers connected to a network. These servers may be referred to as network servers and may form a network server system. The engineering data stored on the network server system may be accessed by any device able to and authorized to connect to the network. However, in some cases, a maintenance operation may need to be performed in a remote location. The remote location may be in an environment where coverage for establishing communications with the network is less than desirable. In some cases, access to the network may be unavailable from the remote location. In other cases, access to the network may not be authorized from the remote location. In these types of situations, an operator may be unable to retrieve the engineering data needed to perform a maintenance operation in a desired manner.
Inability to access the network or delays in accessing the network may result in time delays in retrieving the engineering data needed to perform the maintenance operation. These time delays may result in further time delays in performing the maintenance operation. Still further, these time delays may result in undesired increases in the cost of performing the maintenance operation. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.